sentinel testing

We are at the stage of devising strategies for keeping the community safe as we remove restrictions.  One of these is sentinel testing. This is the procedure for sampling the population and administering the COVID-19 test to everyone randomly selected in this manner. The samples could be based on geography or demography. They could target particular groups deemed to be at risk. The testing could be as random as taking every tenth person who leaves a supermarket.  The idea of this is that, while it is impractical to test the entire population all the time, by testing random groups, whether they are symptomatic or not, we can detect the presence of the virus in the community and prevent outbreaks. It at least improves the odds in our favour.